New top tips information about getting your child’s views

DIAS has published two new resources to help parents and carers find out what their child thinks about school and how they want to be supported.

Our Top Tips information sheets are practical tools for parents and carers, with advice and ideas from people who work with children to get their views.

Children and young people should be at the heart of any decisions made about their education and to make sure that happens, hearing what they have to say is vital.

Helping your child to express themselves and tell you how they feel about life at school (and life in general) is important to making sure they get support that’s going to work for them. It’s the foundation of good school SEN support or an Education Health and Care plan.

But sometimes getting those views can be a challenge. Many children and young people find it hard to talk about how they feel or express what they need, and that’s where our top tips can help. They give you lots of practical tips that will help your child to talk about their thoughts, feelings and experiences.

DIAS volunteers have written top tips for helping your child give their views and an independent supporter has given her ideas for working with young people to gather their views. They’ve shared what works for them, given ideas to make talking about school easy and even set out some words you could say.